Paul Clarke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Western Bureau:The Manning's School were stopped in their tracks yesterday as they were clipped 2-1 by Cedric Titus High at Drax Hall in the quarter-finals of the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel daCosta Cup.

Of the four teams poised to advance yesterday, Ben Francis KO champions St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) were the only ones to virtually secure their berth in the semi-finals. STETHS whipped Garvey Maceo High 3-1 and are now on six points and are poised to take one of the top two spots in Group A. Manning's and Cedric Titus are both on three points.

FROME AMBUSHED

In Group B, Frome High were ambushed 2-0 by Bog Walk, while the game between Glenmuir and Manchester ended in a 1-1 draw. Glenmuir lead the group with four points while Frome and Bog Walk are on three points each.

On Wednesday in Group A, Manning's play leaders STETHS at Santa Cruz, and Cedric Titus travel to Jamalco to tackle Garvey Maceo in key encounters from which the other qualifiers will be drawn. Manning's will have to pull off a very big victory to keep STETHS out of the semi-finals.

It was Manning's who went in front in the 17th minute, when Tevin Daley scored on a beautiful pass from one of the candidates for the MVP award, Melvin Blair.

Manning's could not, however, hold the lead into the break. The referee pointed to the spot in the 37th minute after the ball was adjudged to have been handled by a Manning's player inside the area and Devroy Campbell made no mistake to level the scores at 1-1.

The second half worked like a charm for Cedric Titus, who grabbed the lead in spectacular fashion.

Kemar Harris picked a pass in midfield, took three touches and kicked powerfully past the Manning's goalkeeper.

"It was a crucial win for us. It could have decided our season, but we showed some fighting spirit today and won the match, which keeps our season alive," said Wayne Crawford, the Cedric Titus coach.

"They took the lead against us early, but we never gave up and found a way, especially in the second half, to win," he added.

Cedric Titus 2 Manning's 1

STETHS 3 Garvey Maceo 1

Bog Walk 2 Frome Technical 0

Manchester 1 Glenmuir 1

Yesterday's results

'It was a crucial win for us. It could have decided our season, but we showed some fighting spirit today … .'